Asus Keyboard to Go on Sale Next Month for $600 or Less

Stop us if you've heard this one before - Asus is hoping to release its Eee Keyboard...Wait! On second thought, never mind how many times you may have heard this in the past, because Asus is totally serious this time (we'll see) and promises to release its Eee Keyboard PC sometime next month for between $500 and $600.

That's about the same price we've heard every other time there's been an Eee Keyboard PC announcement, which most recently came in November, 2009, when word of a delay hit the Web. Asus said it planned on using the temporary setback to its advantage by beefing up the hardware.

According to reports, the plank-PC will come equipped with an Intel Atom N270 processor rather than the newer Atom N450, a single DIMM slot with 1GB of DDR2 memory and no way to upgrade to 2GB, a 16GB SSD with the option to upgrade to 32GB, a built-in battery that lasts up to 4 hours, and Windows XP Home.

The keyboard will also sport a 5-inch touch display off to the side, along with VGA and HDMI connections.

All told, it's a pretty nifty device, but will consumers be willing to shell out five or six Benjamins for what amounts to a last-gen netbook (hardware-wise) and very limited upgrade options? If all goes to plan, we'll find out in another month.